Mobile chair for shower facilities



Feb. 16, 1965 J. SEGAR 3,169,253

MOBILE CHAIR FOR SHOWER FACILITIES Filed Sept. 24, 1962 3 Sheets-Sheet l3 Sheet 2 INVENTOR Feb. 16, 1965 J. SEGAR MOBILE CHAIR FOR SHOWERFACILITIES Filed Sept. 24. 1962 lF- llllJ-F Feb. 16, 1965 J. SEGARMOBILE CHAIR FOR SHOWER FACILITIES s sheet -sheet :5

Filed Sept. 24, 1962 INVENT OR United States Patent Ofi ice 3.16%,253MGBELE CHAIR FQR SHOWER FAClLl EES lice Segar, 12950 Kercheval Ave,Detroit 15, Mich. Filed Sept. 24, 1952, 521'. No. 225,46tl 7 Claims.(Cl. 4-145) This invention relates to portable bathing apparatus andparticularly to an improved apparatus for taking shower baths, improvedtype sitz bath and therapeutic treatment.

The primary object of this invention is to provide an improved showerbath device which is so constructed whereby it may be taken to the bedof the patient to be treated, the patient seated upon the mobile chairforming a part of the device and then wheeled back to a shower room andupon a track under a plurality of shower heads for treating the livingbody, substantially at a distance, by wh ch the efiiciency and thepossibilities for application or" in themselves known devices, servingfor sanitary, hygiene and medical treatments, the device embodyingunusual features of construction contributing to the safety and comfortof the patient and the convenience of the hospital statf employing thebath.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved, mobileapparatus for giving relief by subjecting a person to a cooling spray,or hot spray of water while assuming a comfortable seated position.

Another object of this invention is to provide an apparatus movable upona track, which is operable by the bather under and out of direct contactwith the spray of hot or cold water for his own comfort and withoutwaiting for one of the staff to make desired changes.

Still another object of this invention is to provide a chair for showerpurposes particularly adapted to protect the private organs of the userwhether male or female, by having two spaced cushion members arranged inspaced apart relation to support the body while avoiding pressure on thecentral portion of the pelvic region and permitting circulation of Waterbetween the two cushion members.

And still another object of this invention is to provide a mobile showerchair, or bath apparatus which is simple and economical to make and use,dependable and safe in operation, durable in construction and highlyeffective in performing its intended functions.

The objects will become more fully apparent upon reference to thefollowing description.

In the drawing:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevational view of a portable bathing apparatusembodying my invention;

FIGURE 2 is a front elevational view of the apparatus shown in FIG. 1;

FIGURE 3 is a top plan view of the chair and trackway with a shower headarranged therewith; and

FIGURE 4 is a rear elevational view of the bathing apparatus embodyingmy invention.

Referring to the drawings in detail, wherein similar referencecharacters designate corresponding parts throughout the several views,the letter T generally indicates a supporting trackway for supporting myimproved invalid shower type bathing chair designated C. The trackway Tcomprises two tubular rails Ill and 11 ar ranged longitudinally andparallel with each other and integrally formed with an inverted U-shapedforward member with vertical riserslZ and 13 joined at their upper endsby cross-rail 14. The trackway T may be supported upon a plurality ofvertically depending supporting members 16 which in turn may be securedto the floor in any suitable manner. The longitudinal rails it) and 11are curved downwardly at the rear free ends to form risers l7 and 18 toreceive my mobile chair C later to be described.

3,l,253 Patented Feb. 16, i965 The bathing chair designated C consistsgenerally of a base frame 20 which is preferably made of sides withmetal tubing formed with a substantially U-shaped configuration, baseportion 21, upwardly extending supports 22 and 2.3 suitably supported bycross members not designated by numerals. Similar upright supports 24upwardly project, one from the center of each base portion 21, saidupright supports 24 being oppositely disposed with relation to eachother and in transverse relation to the base frame 2t Longitudinaltubular horizontal members 25 and 26 extend rearwardly from the upperends of supports 22 and 2.3 and are secured to curved upright members27' secured to the base portion 21 between supports 23 and 24, providinga solid base frame 20 further embodying a cross rail between said risers12 and 13 and integrally secured thereto and forming a supporting rail28.

An inverted U-shaped frame member 3% is secured to the horizontalmembers 25' and 26 at the rear thereof to form a back portion Bembodying two inclined side rails 31 and 32 and a cross top rail 33. Ahandle H with two side supports 34 and 35 with cross support 35 iswelded to the upper closed end portion of said back portion. A seatframe member S of rectangular configuration embodying short side members46 and 41 and long cross members 42 and 43 formed of a single piece oftubing is secured to the longitudinal members 25 and 26.

The mentioned back portion B and seat portion S have a metal cloth Mattached thereto, the metal cloth secured in any suitable manner so asto extend as a continuous substantially flexible screen from the toprail 33 downwardly to the cross member 43 of the seat and furtherattached to the back side rails 31 and 32 as well as the seat sidemembers and 41.

The metal cloth is a waterproof netting forining a body supportingmeans. The metal cloth M consists of substantially two supporting areasintegrally joined at the top along the rail 33. The cloth M is providedwith a longitudinal opening 56, the edges of the cloth about the openingsecured to a reinforcing frame member 51 which extends from adjacent thetop rail 33 to the cross member 43 of the seat. The seat portion of thecloth M is completely separated thereby, forming an opening 52 which isa continuation of opening 5G thereabove. Therefore the main seat frame Ssupports two rectangular body-engaging sections 53 and 54 of rectangularshape for supporting the portions of the anatomy in contact therewithwhen in use. The spacing of the sections 53 and 54 is at least twoinches or more, preferably four V inches. By the arrangement described Iobtain a proper support for all portions of the body in contact with theseat during a sitting period.

When the body engages the two sections 53 and 54, the muscles of thethigh and the muscles of the hips, are flexed and/ or compressed,causing only slight pressure to be exerted on the tissues and glandsassociated therewith. For exam le, undue pressure of the affectedmuscles, against the prostate gland, may cause excessive-pressure of thegland upon the urethra which it surrounds, possibly resulting in injury.When bathing, no pressure should be applied to the tissues and glandsmentioned.

Two leg supports 56 and 57 are pivotally mounted upon the supportingrail 28; said supports are rectangular in shape and covered with themetal cloth M. 'Ihey are independently mounted so that one can bearranged vertically or inclined to the floor, while the other can-beclamped in a horizontal position or the like. As shown by FIG. 1,support 57 is held in an inclined position by links 68 attached at itsouter end to said support 57 and mounted to a coupling 61 slidablymounted'upon upwardly extending support 22 of frame 20. Upon tighteningof the handle or nut 63, both the support 57. and link 60 will remain ina set position.

The base portions 21 of frame 20, on each side thereof, are providedwith a pair of wheel bearing supports 65 whereby wheels 66 can berotatably mounted therewith, said wheels having flanged rubber tires 67mounted thereon embodying an annular concave groove 68. The rubber tirespermit the chair to be. rolled noiselessly overhospital floors andcorridor-s. The tires are peripherally grooved so they will roll uponthe risers 17 and 18 of the trackway T and then onto the tubular railsand 11 and under and over shower heads; the chair can be moved forwardand backwards on the rails as desired. One shower head 75 is shownmounted by flexible tubing to a wall type pipe line 76 carrying waterunder pressure; regulating valves assembled in the water pipe line, butnot shown, provide forhot or cold or tempered water to be sprayed fromthe spray head. As a rule three jet spray heads are used in place of thesingle head 75, as shown, to spray water upon and over the'whole body. 7Two smaller spray'heads are generally used to spray the legs, shins andfeet. I

The water line 76 also has an extension 78 which projects upwardly in aregion under the The openings 59 and 52 in the metal cloth allows waterfrom a spray head 77 on extension 78 to spray directly into the rectumregionwithout going through the cloth; this direct PICS, sure contact isequivalent to the ordinary sitz bath without removing the invalid fromthe chair. The chair metal cloth being perforated prevents any dirt fromremaining I claim:

1. A mobile type apparatus for invalid use comprising a trackwaycomposed of two parallel rails, a wheeled body supporting chair with arigid frame-work and a shower head connected at one end of a fluidconduit, the opposite end of said conduit adapted for connection to asource of fluid under pressure, a valve assembled with said conduit forcontrolling the amount of fluid flowing to said shower head, fourflanged rubber rollers assembled to the lower portion of said frame-workof. said body support, said chair adaptedfor riding upon said rails ofsaid trackway, a frame extension means with a horizontal cross-barattached to and extending upwardly from the forward ends of said rails]of said trackway, said shower head assembled upon said cross-bar of saidextension means and said wheeled body supporting chair comprising twopivotal leg rests, a back rest and two spaced apart and perforated seatsupporting members, said supporting members being sufficient to enablesaid seat members to comfortably support the buttocks and thighs of apatient While leaving the central portion of the pelvic region exposedfor shower bathing effected by the space between said seat supportingmembers, and said rails elevate from the ground by suitable means andhaving incline type standards at the rear on the chair, the dirt flowingaway with the used water.

The wheel-s are noiselessiand always clean due to being subjected to thespray of the water. The wheel bearings are arranged with offset shanksand supporting members welded to the lower portions of the frame 20. Asshown by FIG. 4, a shower head bracket 80 is weldedto the cross support36 of handle H and has a loop type hose holder member 82 welded theretorA spray head 84 is attached to a flexible water hose 85 connected to awater control valve 8-5, which itself is controlled by two valves 87land 83 for regulating the temperature of the water. See FIG. 3. Thespray head 34 being attached to the chair handle permits water to besprayed upon theinval-id before or Q while passing past or over thestationary sprays 75 and 7 7 to eliminate shock from the Water comingfrom said stationary sprays. I p r r It is often desirable that medicinebe administered with the sprayed water, and this is done by assembling acon- 1 tainer with medicine and connecting it to the water line 76 orthe water spray head 75.

The 'metal cloth, sometimes called major metal, is

locked in a desired location by screw typelocking means 90 and 9 2. Y i

It is clearly seen that the above described invention 7 provides-anapparatus for treating the: living body, by which the effi-ciencyand thepossibilities for application of end integrally secured therewith sothat the rubber rollers may ride upwardlyonto said trackway for guidanceunder a plurality of shower'heads.

2; The bath apparatus according to. claim 1 wherein said back rest hasan'inverted U-shaped member attached thereto, said U-shaped memberembodying across-bar element with flexible clamping means rigidlysecured thereto whereby a conduit having'a shower head attached theretoQmay be clamped by said clamping means.

3. A shower bath apparatus for invalid use comprising a trackway, awheeled body frame type supporting device and a plurality of shower.heads connected with fluid conduit means, said conduit means connectedwith a source of fluid medium, and-means for selectively controlling theemission of fluid from the said shower heads, said wheeled bodysupporting device embodying a tubular frame and having secured'theret-oa plurality of flanged resilient rollcrs for riding on said trackway,aback rest, said back rest having a longitudinal opening in the lowerportion thereof, a seat for the support of the human body and pivotalleg rests, said seat comprising two spaced perforated supporting membersand'means for securing said members to saidtu'b'ula frame inspacedrelati-on, said members being sufficient to enable said members tocomfortably support the body while avoiding pres-sure on the centralportion of the pelvic region and leaving it exposed for bathing effectedby the space between said members, and said back rest leaving the spinalregion exposed for bathing because of the longitudinal opening in' thelower portion thereof.

' 4. A shower bathyapparatus for invalid use comprising asubstantiallyU-shaped .trackway, a mobile body frame type supportingdevice anda plurality of shower heads connected with fluid conduitmeans, said conduit means a connected with a source [of-fluid medium,and means for in themselves known devices, serving for. sanitary,hygenic and medical treatments, are increased andcnhancedand donewithout extra human effort, or, that the entire body may be covered withwater, hot or cold, for cleaning or the like, as required, in an easymanner.

The opening providing two seating portions furnishes a conventionaltoilet; the chair'can berolled over atoilet or drain, then the patientwashed :and sprayed. When. it

- is desirable to utilizethe chair for asit'zibath, it is position'edrelative to a toilet or drain and only water sprayed from head 77. Allof the waste water willru'n. into the toilet drain on the floor.

selectivelycontrollingthe emission of fluid from the said.

showerhe-ads, said mobile body supporting device embodying a tubularframe and having secured thereto-a plurality of flanged rollers forriding on said trackway, ap-air of pivotal leg rests, aback rest with alongitudinal central opening, "aseat for thesupport of the human bodyand pivotal foot rests, said se-atcomprising two spaced perfo-' 1 ratedsup-porting members and means for securing said betweensaid members,said pivotal leg rests mounted upon members 'to'said "tubular frame in-spaced relation, .said

' members beingsuflicient to enable said members to comfortably supportthe body whilejavoiding pressure on the central portion of thepelv'icregi'on' effected by the space the forwardend of said seat withmeans to lock said leg rests inselected elevations independent to eachother, a'

conduit assembled to said .trackway-and midway thereof with a spray headmounted upon the upper end thereof whereby fluid medium with how fromsaid spray head through said opening in said seat and onto the pelvicregion of the invalid using the bath apparatus.

5. A mobile chair for shower bathing facilities comprising a wheeledchair-type support, a tracltway with a pair of parallel leg portions anda plurality of shower heads connected with conduits attached to a sourceof fluid treatment medium, said trackway adapted to lie in asubstantially horizontal plane and having a forward inverted U- shapedclosed portion arranged in a vertical plane with a horizontal transversecross-bar, a downward-1y directed fluid discharge spray head connectedwith a conduit assembled with said cross-bar, a single shower-headmounted upon the upper end of a vertical conduit standard arrangedbetween the leg portions of said trackW-ay, said wheeled chair-typesupport comprising a frame-work and a seat portion, a back rest and apair of leg supports, said leg supports spaced from each other andindividually pivotally mounted to the forward end or" said seat portion,locking means for selectively arranging said leg supports in position,said back rest having a longitudinal central opening exposing the spinalregion of the user, said seat portion consisting of two spaced apartsupporting members formed of perforated material and attached to theframework of said chair-type support, the pelvic region of the userexposed for bathing thereof, effected by the opening between said seatportions, said frame-Work having four wheel bearings supports mountedupon the lower extremities thereof, four flanged rubber wheels rotatablymounted in said bearing supports, for riding on said leg portions ofsaid tracltway, said back rest having a transverse crossbar attachedabove and therewith, and means rigidly secured to said crossbar forremovably supporting a conduit with a spray head attached thereto forspraying the head and adjacent portions of the user.

6. A mobile chair for shower bathing facilities comprising a trackcomposed of two parallel rails, a plurality of means for supporting saidrails in an elevated position in bathing facilities with water conduitsextending from the Walls thereof, the forward end of said rails joinedby a cross rail, the rear end portions of said rails curved downwardlyto form two risers, a carriage adapted to ride said rails, said carriagehaving four flanged wheels rotatably mounted thereon with two of saidwheels spacedly mounted on each side of said carriage to rotate in lineand ride the said two rails, said carriage having a back rest, a seatand a leg rest, said seat on said carriage consisting of two spacedapart frames covered with metal screening for supporting a personthereon, a conduit attached at one end to a water conduit extending fromsaid wall, and a shower head connected with the opposite end of saidconduit, said shower head attached to said conduit removably attached tosaid carriage for spraying the head and adjacent portions of the user.

7. A mobile chair for shower bathing facilities comprising a trackcomposed of two tubular rails arranged longitudinally and parallel witheach other and integrally formed at their front ends with an invertedU-shaped forward member with two vertical risers joined at their upperends by a cross-rail, supporting means for elevating said tubular railsin an elevated position in the shower bathing facilities, and the rearend portions of said tubular rails curved downwardly to form two risers,a chair adapted to ride on said tubular rails, said chair composed of arigid base frame having two side members of U-shaped configurationembodying a base portion, a front upright support and a rear uprightsupport, with two longitudinal horizontal seat members secured to theupper ends of said front and rear upright supports, and said seatmembers connected at the rear thereof by a cross member, said baseportions of each of the two side members provided at the front and rearends thereof with a wheeled bearing support, four flanged rubber wheelsrotatably mounted in said wheel bearing supports, to ride the twotubular rails, a shower head assembled upon said inverted U-shapedforward member of said track, a back rest frame rigidly secured to saidrigid base frame, said back rest having a transverse cross-bar attachedabove and therewith and said cross-bar having a shower head assembledthereon for spraying the user, two seat irame portions spaced from eachother and rigidly secured to said base frame, two leg support framesspaced from each other and hingedly secured to said base frame, saidback rest frame, said two seat frame portions and said two leg supportframes having perforated metal cloth attached thereto, said spaced apartseat frame portions and said spaced apart leg support frames 'beingsuificient to oom-fortably support the buttocks and thighs of a patientusing the chair and leaving the central portion of the pelvic regionexposed for shower bathing effected by the space between said frames.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,037,578 4/36Hoaglund et a1 4-134 2,869,614 1/59 Wamsley 4-134 2,872,686 2/59 Osbornet al 4-6 3,040,335 6/62 Gellnrann 4185 3,090,969 5/63 Maling 4-145FOREIGN PATENTS 11,808 5/ 11 Great Britain.

EDWARD V. BENHAM, Primary Examiner.

1. A MOBILE TYPE APPARATUS FOR INVALID USE COMPRISING A TRACKWAYCOMPOSED OF TWO PARALLEL RAILS, A WHEELED BODY SUPPORTING CHAIR WITH ARIGID FRAME-WORK AND A SHOWER HEAD CONNECTED AT ONE END OF A FLUIDCONDUIT, THE OPPOSITE END OF SAID CONDUIT ADAPTED FOR CONNECTION TO ASOURCE OF FLUID UNDER PRESSURE, A VALVE ASSEMBLED WITH SAID CONDUIT FORCONTROLLING THE AMOUNT OF FLUID FLOWING TO SAID SHOWER HEAD, FOURFLANGED RUBBER ROLLERS ASSEMBLED TO THE LOWER PORTION OF SAID FRAME-WORKOF SAID BODY SUPPORT, SAID CHAIR ADAPTED FOR RIDING UPON SAID RAILS OFSAID TRACKWAY, A FRAME EXTENSION MEANS WITH A HORIZONTAL CROSS-BARATTACHED TO AND EXTENDING UPWARDLY FROM THE FORWARD ENDS OF SAID RAILSOF SAID TRACKWAY, SAID SHOWER HEAD ASSEMBLED UPON SAID CROSS-BAR OF SAIDEXTENSION MEANS AND SAID WHEELED BODY SUPPORTING CHAIR COMPRISING TWOPIVOTAL LEG RESTS, A BACK REST AND TWO SPACED APART AND PERFORATED SEATSUPPORTING MEMBER, SAID SUPPORTING MEMBERS BEING SUFFICIENT TO ENABLESAID SEAT MEMBERS TO COMFORTABLY SUPPORT THE BUTTOCKS AND THIGHS OF APATIENT WHILE LEAVING THE CENTRAL PORTION OF THE PELVIC REGION EXPOSEDFOR SHOWER BATHING EFFECTED BY THE SPACE BETWEEN SAID SEAT SUPPORTINGMEMBERS, AND SAID RAILS ELEVATE FROM THE GROUND BY SUITABLE MEANS ANDHAVING INCLINE TYPE STANDARDS AT THE REAR END INTEGRALLY SECUREDTHEREWITH SO THAT THE RUBBER ROLLERS MAY RIDE UPWARDLY ONTO SAIDTRACKWAY FOR GUIDANCE UNDER A PLURALITY OF SHOWER HEADS.